May 15, 2018
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We are always trying to find ways to get a head start on our day. It makes sense if you have a busy schedule then you have a lot of things packed into your day and sometimes every minute really does count. The problem that a lot of us run into is that we spend a couple of hours in the morning trying to “get going”. We waste time in a half comprehensive fog trying to snap out of it and get on to the important things we have to do that day.
Though all of the tips that I am going to give are important, the most important of them all is to form habits from these tips. Make a habit of what time you will go to bed and wake up each day, your morning routine, your breakfast, etc. The more that you can do almost autonomously, the more productive you can be in the morning. Though forming the right habits does play a huge role in starting your day off productively. Each person is different, but here are some general tips that will at least get you going in the right direction.
The Basics
The first and most obvious tip is eating a good, balanced breakfast. Skipping breakfast can cause you to be less productive because your body does not have the fuel it needs to run at full capacity. You will be counting down the time until you get to take your lunch all morning, and in the process wasting a lot of valuable time. Eating breakfast also helps wake up your brain, once you eat you will feel more awake and ready for the day. So make it easier for your body to ‘jump out of bed running’ by giving your body the energy it needs to start each day.
Exercise and meditation are also great ways to get your brain stimulated in the morning. For most people, the best way to snap out of morning grogginess to is to wake up and go to the gym. Even if you only have time for a quick run, or yoga at home, anything will help you to start your day more productively.
A tip that has been given by many successful businessmen is to start your day by making your bed. This sounds like the simplest suggestion of them all, but it can be key to getting into your morning routine. The reason that this is suggested so often is that making your bed is a very simple task that starts your day out doing something productive. You don’t just roll out of bed straight onto your phone, you get up and have to actually start the day accomplishing something, no matter how small.
Planning
Planning out your day or week in advance will help you ensure that you get everything done that you are wanting to. This alone can push you to be more productive because you have a list of things that you have to complete that day. It is an easy way to hold yourself accountable for getting something done when you want to get it done.
Prioritizing
When you are doing your planning, you should plan to do the most important, or highest priority items on your list first. This may sound obvious, but it is easy to push big, important things off in the morning and start out with more menials tasks. Your brain is actually the most awake and attentive in the morning, and so you want to use that to your advantage, and get the big things out of the way. This also gives you a little bit of leeway for when something comes up and you don’t get to everything on your list. This way you have to skip the less important things, instead of the bigger ones. One of the most common tasks that we tend to push off is having an important or difficult conversation with someone. Whether the conversation is in person or over the phone, no one likes to start off their morning will a tough call. Yet according to Inc., when we have a tough call or talk hanging over our head all day we will actually be less productive because it is in the back of our mind distracting us all day. So it always best to just get it out of the way so you don’t have to think about it at all the rest of the day.
